A FRONT-ROW VIEW OF WWII FROM REAR GUNNER’S SEAT

A South Philadelphia boy, George W. Glicker, enlisted in the Navy in 1942. His training, divided between Jacksonville, Fla., and San Diego, provided a study in climatic contrasts.

“It was like being in hell in Jacksonville and arriving in heaven here,” said Glicker, now an 87-year-old La Mesan.

Then he was sent to the South Pacific, as a rear gunner in a Catalina PBY. That’s where he learned what hell is really like.

Glicker’s PBY patrolled the South Pacific, rescuing downed airmen from the sea. They flew into war-torn islands soon after Marines or GIs had captured them from the Japanese. These were ferocious, merciless battles — until the shooting ended. Then, Glicker often saw Americans tenderly treating wounded and dying Japanese.